Issue 121 April 2016
Donna Hartley Millinery Roxanne Willard Retro Daisy Bridal Veil Tutorial South African Racing Hats and more... the e-magazine for those who make hats Issue 121 April 2016 Contents: Donna Hartley Millinery 2 Living the dream in the Spanish mountains. Hat of the Month 8 Roxanne Willard makes a hat for a High Sheriff. Retro Daisy Bridal Veil Tutorial 10 Step-by-step instructions by Michelle Osborne of Petershams Millinery Supplies. Editor’s Pick 24 Images from South Africa’s J & B Met 2016. Letter to the Editor 28 Attaching a saucer hat to a hair band. The Back Page 29 Hat trend alert and how to contact us.
1 www.hatalk.com Donna Hartley Millinery: Living the Dream
Donna Hartley Millinery was born of a long, close eventually left England to live in a mountainous area of friendship between Joanne Temperley Jones (below rural Spain called Campo de San Juan. left) and Donna Hartley (below right). Three years ago, the two friends decided to set up a millinery business The two women came up with the idea of starting a together. The only difficulty was that they were living business together in 2013. With guidance and training, over a thousand miles apart and in different countries. Donna felt sure that Joanne could use her natural artistic abilities to learn millinery so that they could develop Donna and Joanne first met in the picturesque English their own brand together. The more they talked, the town of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Joanne was 21 more excited they became and, eventually, with the and working in her family’s bar when 15-year old Donna agreement of their respective partners, they decided to came in with her older sister and a lifelong friendship try and turn their dream into a reality. was begun.
“From the moment we met, we have never looked back,” says Donna. “Although we have lived distances apart, we have always been close and there for each other.”
Donna went on to study Fashion Design at Batley Art College and then worked for wedding dress designer Beverly Summers. Finding that she had a talent for creating headpieces, she went back to college to specialise in millinery. This led to a position with Herald & Heart Hatters in London where she designed collections for prestigious customers like the Royal Ascot Corporation and had hats featured in magazines such as Hello and Shropshire Life. Joanne became an artist, designing murals and other original pieces, and
2 www.hatalk.com Planning to base their new venture in Spain, Donna and her partner quit their jobs in England and made moving arrangements. Before long, they had secured a place to live, sold their British home and booked a ferry to Spain.
“We set off from England in a Luton van,” says Donna. “Household things packed in the back, dog in the front and John and I driving towards the biggest adventure of our lives! It was January and we had to cross a pretty rough sea for 24 hours. Once we got to Spain, we then had to drive 12 hours to where our new lives were to begin. As we got closer to Murcia and into the mountains, the weather started to change - snow, rain and cold - but we soldiered on.”
As soon as she moved in, Donna set up a workroom in the basement of her new home and began teaching Joanne how to make hats.
“On the first day, Joanne managed to set her feather lined jacket alight with the butane gas fire - whilst wearing it!!” Donna told us. “Screams could be heard all over the land. Thankfully, there was no damage done.”
To be able to run a business in Spain, Donna and her partner had to apply for Spanish residency, a process which required a lot of driving backwards and forwards to and from the Capital of Murcia. Once the residency was granted, Donna and Joanne were able to register their business and Donna Hartley Millinery legally commenced trading in May 2015.
Living out a dream almost always involves a lot of hard work and plenty of ups and downs. We recently asked Donna and Joanne to tell us a little bit about what their experience has been like so far...
3 www.hatalk.com What are the pros of your new business location? The best thing about being here is the tranquillity. No traffic noises, no industrial waste fallout and, best of all, we have lavender fields, almond, walnut and fig trees, mountain vultures and eagles right on our doorstep. We can sit outside in Spring and Summer and sew, make blocks and generally get a lovely sun tan. We even have a free gardening service - our local shepherd brings his goats on a regular basis to eat all the grass and whatever else they like from around the house. Of course, we have to make sure there are no hats drying outside or freshly carved hat blocks lying about as goats like them as well!”
And the cons? There are low parts of the work, especially when it gets cold in the winter months. Four coats, a hat, a pair of fingerless gloves and a couple of pairs of socks are the order of the day. And it is no easy task dealing with legal matters in a foreign country. Joanne has excellent Spanish but it is a whole new ball game when talking in legal terms. All documentation is written in Spanish and there is a huge amount to go through. We are fortunate that Joanne’s partner is Spanish and helps with all legal translation. Spanish business requirements are different from English ones in so many ways - we have to concentrate and listen and hopefully take things on board.
Another challenge is the internet. Initially, we had a website to build, orders to place, and private and wholesale customers to look for and we needed internet to do all of these things. Here in this mountainous region, the Wi-Fi connection can be a little alarming to say the least. We also have great fun with the local couriers - they don’t like to drive out to us to deliver one parcel, they think it is best to wait and bring a few at once! But we manage - it is all part and parcel of our everyday existence in these rural surroundings.
4 www.hatalk.com 5 www.hatalk.com How do you feel that you’ve meshed with the local community so far? As a whole, things are going smoothly. The language barrier is gradually breaking down (you have no option but to learn the language when you live in a rural area). The local people have welcomed us and are extremely supportive of our business adventure. We hope that, in time, we will be able to provide work for people here in the ‘Campo’ and help boost the local economy.
Where do you sell your hats? We have a wholesale business and sell to America, Australia, England and Ireland. Our first sale to Samuels in Oklahoma (originally from New York) was a real highlight for us. We are new and people don’t know our quality and style yet so for someone to put faith in our products was a major boost. The downside to selling internationally is the dreaded shipping costs. These can potentially make or break a deal and big courier services don’t want to support us as we are new and too small. We also go on the road to sell our goods sometimes and a couple of exclusive shops in Spain stock our hats.
The other side of our business is retail to private clients. We are really happy to talk to clients about creating bespoke pieces and become excited at designing a new creation for them. We were recently asked to create a couple of one-off pieces for a catwalk show. This was fantastic as there were no boundaries to what we could make and it is an area where we would like to expand.
Do you work to the seasonal fashion calendar? It’s important to keep ahead of the game as there are many milliners producing beautiful pieces of work. Creating two collections a year - Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter - enables the artistic flow to continue throughout the seasons.
6 www.hatalk.com What are your favourite millinery materials? More and more materials are available today than ever before and what we are able to achieve has no limits. We like to use different materials and develop new styles and ideas; for example we recently looked into using cork from Portugal which comes in many different thicknesses. We believe that we can develop on this and produce some amazing work.
Making our own prototype blocks is something we also enjoy doing. It not only develops our sculptural skills but also means we have some unique shapes. It is a mucky business and the pair of us get covered in whatever material we are using, so it has to be done outdoors. This is not a drawback, though, as we can sit in fields of lavender and look at mountains that simply take your breathe away!
How would you describe Donna Hartley Millinery? Our unique style has quintessential British flair, whilst our natural surroundings, the Spanish flamboyancy and culture inspire and complement our quirky individuality.
What is it like to work together after being friends for so many years? We bounce off each other and have heaps of fun - it never feels like ‘work.’ As we navigate through the days and nights, they merge into a myriad of innovative occasions. We work well together and knew we would as our friendship has lasted for over 30 years. We have played hard in our time and continue to do so and this has been mirrored in our business partnership. Many stunning head embellishments have emerged from the madness within…
Go to www.donnahartleymillinery.com to find out more about Donna and Joanne’s new hat label.
7 www.hatalk.com Hat of the Month by Roxanne Willard
8 www.hatalk.com Hat maker Roxanne Willard works decided that she should order an size. Having used a double layer of from her showroom in the English additional amount of this to enable material during the blocking process, city of Chichester, where she creates me to make the hat to match her I had ensured that the crown was bespoke special occasion pieces and outfit. We selected a style of hat and already lined with the velvet. I added casual designs for both men and then chose the correct size for the wire to the edge of the brim, which women. Roxanne recently got in brim. We opted for a shallow domed was then followed by tarlatan and touch to tell us about this exciting side-sweep with a large white ostrich edged with matching petersham commission - an opportunity to feather and a velvet rose, which I ribbon. make a high profile hat for a local made using the same fabric. public figurehead... It was then time to put the crown and brim together and add an internal Last year I was contacted by Denise head fitting band and matching bias Patterson who, at the time, was the ribbon over the join. High Sheriff elect of West Sussex. She asked me if I could make a Fitting the ostrich feather required bespoke hat to compliment her some thought and precision. It official ‘uniform,’ which she would was a large feather and after much initially wear at her inauguration and deliberation I decided to use a very then at official functions throughout small drill bit to create a fixing hole the year. The hat would need to be in the thicker end of the quill, which constructed to withstand regular, enabled me to securely attach the continued use in all weathers. feather to the hat. The feather could then be gently curled around the The British High Sheriffs’ Association crown. Lastly, I added a rose that I provides guidelines for both the had made from the velvet material, uniform and the hat. I was shown the which gave the final touch to the design criteria which the hat would completed hat. have to conform to. This stated that the colour should be black or The process began with me Denise informs me that the hat is a dark colour such as navy, plum or stretching the velvet over the blocks. quite gorgeous and has been the hit a bottle green, with a dense fabric I then added tarlatan, followed by of her year! and embellished with white (ostrich) buckram, followed by another layer feather(s). of tarlatan and then finished with a second top layer of the velvet. Denise had selected the fabric for her outfit which was a lovely velvet Once off the blocks, I trimmed the To see more of Roxanne’s work, visit material in a deep purple colour. We crown and the brim to the correct www.roxannewillardhats.co.uk.
9 www.hatalk.com Retro Daisy Bridal Veil Tutorial by Michelle Osborne
10 www.hatalk.com What You Will Need to Make a Retro Daisy Bridal Veil*:
• 25” (63.5cm) long piece of 9” wide (22.8cm) millinery veiling • 3.25” (8.5cm) metal comb • 10mm Daisy Guipure lace • 15mm Daisy Guipure lace • 25mm Daisy Guipure lace • Coordinating satin or grosgrain ribbon (5mm-10mm width) • UHU Glue • Coordinating thread • Pins • Sticky tape (clear or masking) • Ruler or tape measure • Scissors • Hand sewing needles • Iron • Millinery dolly
*Direct links to materials available to purchase from Petershams Millinery Supplies (right) are in blue.
11 www.hatalk.com Step 1: Lay out your veiling on a flat surface. Make a diagonal cut starting from the bottom corner up to the top of the veiling so that you have removed around 4” (10cm) from the top edge. Step 2: Fold the veiling in half and then use your first cut as a guideline to cut the other edge at the same angle.
12 www.hatalk.com Step 3: You will now have a piece of veiling that looks like this. Next we will gather the veiling by sewing through the three edges marked with arrows.
13 www.hatalk.com Step 4: Thread your needle with a doubled thread and tie it off at the bottom right edge of the veiling. Sew upward through the veiling, weaving along the edge through the diamonds and intersections. Step 5: Continue to weave your thread along the top edge and then down along the left edge.
14 www.hatalk.com Step 6: When you get to the bottom of the second edge, pull gently on the thread to gather the veiling, leaving enough slack to span the width of the comb. Tie off the thread securely at the end with a double knot. Step 7: Next, you will prepare the hair comb. To begin, lay the ribbon over the comb.
15 www.hatalk.com Step 8: Wrap the ribbon between each hair comb tooth until you reach the end.
Step 9: When you get to the end, trim the ribbon, fold it inward and then sew it down with a few tack stitches.
16 www.hatalk.com Step 10: Before attaching the veil, put a piece of tape over the bottom of the comb to cover up the tooth ends. This will stop the veiling from getting entangled in the comb. Step 11: Adjust the gathers in your veiling evenly and then pin it onto the comb.
17 www.hatalk.com Step 12: Sew through the edge of the veiling and through the ribbon along the length of the comb. Tie off the thread securely at the end. Step 13: Now you need to ‘block’ the veil to ensure it is not puffy on top and sits away from the face. As veiling can melt easily, always use your iron’s coolest setting and consider covering the veiling with a tea towel while pressing. 18 www.hatalk.com Step 14: Gently iron the veiling around the top of your millinery dolly, stretching the veiling in a downward position to ‘open’ the diamond shapes and round out the veil. Step 15: Prepare your lace by snipping off the individual flowers.
19 www.hatalk.com Step 16: Dab a small amount of UHU adhesive onto the back of a large flower and glue it onto the back edge of the veil. Add a few more large flowers in this manner to the back in a random pattern. Step 17: Attach the medium sized flowers in front of the large ones in the same way, creating a cascade effect. It helps to try the veil on to decide the placement of the flowers and to make sure that they are not obscuring your view. 20 www.hatalk.com Step 18: Once you are happy with the placement of the large and medium flowers, finish off the veil by adding a scattering of the tiny flowers towards the front and back.
Voilà - your Retro Daisy Bridal Veil is done!
21 www.hatalk.com This month’s step-by-step tutorial was written by Michelle first London store in October 2015,” says Michelle. “It’s Osborne, owner of Petershams Millinery Supplies... been fantastic to finally meet my ‘virtual’ customers in real life and to be able to showcase our famous wall of Petershams was born out of a love and passion for hats sinamay and vintage veiling. We are located less than a and millinery materials which Michelle (below) only one minute walk from Elephant & Castle station at the discovered after moving across the world. Artworks, which is a great place to come to eat and drink!”
“I’m a California girl who moved to London almost ten To see what Michelle has to offer, both in store and years ago,” she told us. “What a change of landscape! online, visit: For the first time ever I found myself purchasing winter coats, mittens, umbrellas and...hats!” Petershams Millinery Supplies Unit 12a, the Artworks “But it was not always the functional hats that took my interest. It was the amazing hats that ladies wore to the Elephant Road races, the fancy little numbers that adorned guests at a London, SE17 1AY wedding. And the bride? Always my favourite! I simply England needed to know how to make these masterpieces.” www.petershams.com After years of training, Michelle built up a great collection of hats, headpieces and vintage supplies. She decided that, as well as designing hats, she wanted to set up a millinery supply business to help others to discover the joy of making their own creations too.
Michelle began by selling supplies online, specialising in vintage hat making goods and modern supplies with vintage flair and catering to all levels of makers - from the bride wanting to find out how to make her own veil to the seasoned milliner looking for unique trimmings. She created her own website, www.petershams.com, to offer customers a smooth online shopping experience and competitive worldwide shipping rates. Just a few months ago, however, Michelle embarked on an exciting new chapter of her business journey.
“After five years of trading online, we finally opened our
22 www.hatalk.com 23 www.hatalk.com Editor’s Pick: J & B Met 2016 Cape Town, South Africa
German hat maker Ruth Eberz spent some time in South Africa earlier this year and sent us some fantastic pictures from Cape Town’s J & B Met.
Now in its 39th year, the J & B Met is one of South Africa’s most prestigious horse races and attracts tens of thousands of spectators to Kenilworth Racecourse each January.
While headwear is not part of a compulsory dress code, many visitors do opt to wear hats or fascinators in the spirit of true racing fashion. This year, long time corporate sponsors J&B™ Scotch challenged racegoers to dress to the theme of ‘A Rare Blend’ and held a ‘Most Elegant Couple’ competition to encourage high fashion.
Check out the photos on the next few pages to get a snapshot of a day at the races in sunny South Africa...
24 www.hatalk.com 25 www.hatalk.com 26 www.hatalk.com If you’ve recently attended a ‘hatty’ event and have photos you could share with us, please email them to [email protected].
27 www.hatalk.com Send us your questions and comments! Do Letters to the you have a problem needing a solution? Or information that you’d like to share? Editor... Email us! [email protected]
Question: How do I attach a sinamay saucer hat to a hair band?
Answer: A helpful trick for attaching a sinamay saucer hat to a hair band is to make a little sinamay ‘loop’ to slide the band through. To do this, you will need a sinamay bias strip which matches your hat or fascinator exactly. Cut off any diagonal ends so that your bias strip is in the shape of a rectangle. Fold this rectangle in three by bringing the two short raw edges into the centre and then turn a small hem over at each end of your triple-layered sinamay piece (right).
Decide exactly where you want to attach the hat to the hair band. This will be your main point of anchor, so make sure the hat will be properly balanced with the attachment discreetly positioned on the underside of the headpiece. Once you’ve decided on your attachment point, pin the folded sinamay piece neatly in place and then sew it to the hat with small, neat stitches along both of the hem edges. Make sure that the folded sinamay lays flat against the hat to form a tight space to slide the hair band through (right). Once you’ve inserted the hair band and double checked that you are happy with the positioning, hold it in place by making a few stitches through the sinamay loop and the fabric of the hair band (if it is a covered one) or squeezing a tiny bit of glue between the band and the loop.
28 www.hatalk.com The Back Page
Trend Alert - Big Brims are Back The Duchess of Cambridge made a bold millinery move at the annual Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey earlier this month, making international headlines by wearing an assymetrical felt hat from John Boyd Millinery. The hat was larger than the headpieces that the Duchess normally chooses and has led major newspapers such as The Telegraph (left) to claim that she is reviving this traditional look.
This is great news for the hat world and we expect to see lots of ladies following suit and wearing wider brims and more substantial hat styles this year - so it’s time to get blocking! We recently met the inspirational Mr Boyd, who is still making hats at the age of 90 and was a favourite of the late Princess Diana. You can read all about his life in millinery in HATalk Issue 114.
Sad News...Sad Sad News... Our thoughts and condolences go out to the team at British hat manufacturer Whiteley Fischer, whose CEO Peter Whiteley passed away at the age of 55 after suffering a heart attack earlier this month. “Peter will be greatly missed and was our inspirational leader,” says a spokesperson for the brand, “but we are determined to continue forward with the business.”
Contact Us! Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or post on our Facebook, Twitter or HATalk Social pages and we’ll be sure to get back to you.
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